How Much Should You Expect to Pay a Contractor for an eCommerce Solution?

Introduction

Building a high-performance eCommerce website is not just about putting products online—it requires expert planning, development, optimization, and long-term management. Yet, many businesses underestimate the cost of hiring a contractor, only to realize months later that they can’t afford the infrastructure, bandwidth, or even the full development costs.

This article breaks down:
✅ What a contractor should charge for building your eCommerce solution
✅ The real cost of loading and managing 20K+ products
✅ How delays and scope changes impact the budget
✅ The true Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a project like this

1. What Does an eCommerce Contractor Do?

A skilled eCommerce contractor doesn’t just "build a website"—they handle everything needed to get the store live and running efficiently. This includes:

🔹 Planning & Consultation – Understanding business needs, costs, and scalability.
🔹 Hosting & Server Setup – Choosing the right infrastructure based on traffic expectations.
🔹 Database Architecture – Structuring products, variations, and orders for optimal performance.
🔹 Product Import & Image Handling – Uploading, optimizing, and managing thousands of product images.
🔹 Custom Development & Integrations – Payment gateways, search filters, SEO, and automation.
🔹 Performance Optimization – Ensuring fast load times through caching, CDNs, and database tuning.
🔹 Security & Compliance – PCI DSS compliance, data protection, and firewall setup.
🔹 Testing & Debugging – Fixing performance issues, broken functionalities, and UX improvements.
🔹 Ongoing Support & Maintenance – Ensuring updates, backups, and long-term site health.

📌 Without proper execution of these steps, an eCommerce project can quickly fail due to slow performance, security issues, or lack of scalability.

2. Contractor Rates: Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Project-Based

Typical Contractor Rates for eCommerce Development (UK Pricing)

💰 Hourly Rate: £60 - £150 per hour (depending on expertise & complexity).
💰 Daily Rate: £400 - £1,000 per day.
💰 Weekly Rate: £2,000 - £5,000 per week.
💰 Full Project (20K+ Products, Full Build): £15,000 - £50,000+ (depending on complexity).

📌 Lower-end pricing applies to simpler builds, while larger stores with custom functionality, automation, and high traffic handling require more expertise and therefore, higher rates.

3. The Time & Cost to Load 20K+ Products

Many businesses assume product loading is "just an upload," but it involves data validation, restructuring, and optimization.

Estimated Time Breakdown

⏳ Product Data Cleaning & Preparation: 30-60 hours (ensuring correct formatting, categories, attributes).
⏳ Bulk Import & Data Mapping: 10-30 hours (uploading CSV files, mapping fields correctly).
⏳ Image Processing & Optimization: 40-100 hours (resizing, CDN setup, regenerating thumbnails).
⏳ SEO & Meta Data Optimization: 20-50 hours (writing descriptions, setting up metadata, internal linking).
⏳ Testing & Debugging: 20-60 hours (ensuring everything loads correctly, fixing missing data issues).

📌 Total Estimated Work: 150-300+ hours (depending on data quality).
📌 Estimated Cost at £80/hour: £12,000 - £24,000 just for loading & optimizing 20K products.

4. What Happens When Clients Keep Changing Requirements?

A common scenario:
🚨 Client requests a custom feature that wasn’t in the original scope.
🚨 Project timeline extends from 3 months to 5+ months due to indecision.
🚨 Final store launch is delayed, but hosting & development costs continue.
🚨 After months of work, the client realizes they can’t afford the bandwidth & server costs.

Impact of Delays on Costs

💰 Extra Contractor Fees: If a project takes 5 months instead of 3, expect to pay 30-50% more.
💰 Hosting & Storage Costs Accumulate: A £500/month hosting plan over 5 months = £2,500 before launch.
💰 Missed Revenue Opportunity: Every month without a store is lost potential sales.

📌 Solution: Be transparent about requirements and budget from the start to avoid costly delays.

5. Understanding the True Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Building an eCommerce store is just the beginning—you must also factor in ongoing expenses:

🔹 Development Costs – Contractor, plugins, custom features (£15,000 - £50,000).
🔹 Hosting & Bandwidth – Cloud hosting, CDN, storage (£300 - £1,000/month).
🔹 Marketing & SEO – Ads, email campaigns, SEO services (£500 - £5,000/month).
🔹 Maintenance & Updates – Plugin updates, security patches, performance tweaks (£200 - £800/month).
🔹 Support & Bug Fixing – Ongoing improvements & issue resolution (£50 - £200/hour as needed).

📌 Annual Estimated TCO: £20,000 - £100,000 per year depending on the scale of operations.

Conclusion: Budgeting for Reality, Not Just Dreams

🔥 Before hiring a contractor, ask yourself:

• Do I fully understand the cost of development, hosting, and long-term maintenance?
• Am I prepared for unexpected changes and additional costs?
• Can I afford the infrastructure costs once the store is live?
• Is my business financially ready for this level of eCommerce scaling?

🚀 AKADATA provides expert eCommerce development and realistic cost planning to ensure your business is fully prepared for success. Let’s talk about how to make your project a reality—without surprises.